


Queens of the East and West

by LadyBrooke



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Dark Queens, Gen, Ghosts, Moral Ambiguity, Necromancy, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-10-26 09:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20739908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: Galadriel is Queen in the East, glorious and fair.Lúthien is Queen of Beleriand, that which is the West.





	Queens of the East and West

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kimaracretak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/gifts).

Galadriel rules as Queen in the East, glorious and fair. Her people call her the Queen of all who live there; she does not acknowledge those who call her other things.

Technically, she is beholden to Lúthien, Queen of Beleriand that is the West, but they both have both chosen to ignore that as the centuries pass. There is no need for suspicion when they know the other as deeply as they know themselves. Lúthien will no more betray her than she will betray Luthien, especially as they work towards the same goal of taking their war against the Enemy to Valinor, and neither of them will force the other to demonstrate their loyalty. 

(Forced loyalty is for those who have previously shown themselves unwilling to bend before them, even after they rescued Elves and Men from Morgoth. Sauron is held under such. So too will they hold Galadriel’s cousins, when they find them. Lúthien has promised her help, for the laws that control the kingship of the Noldor will hold no sway in these lands.)

The lands in the two kingdoms bend to their wills, to Lúthien's dancing and Galadriel's songs. Dwarven mountains empty of age old pests, as the balrogs flee to the sea. Elvish lands empty of orcs and arguments. Mortal Men find themselves content in their keeps, though only some are allowed to keep their lords. In the land between them, the Old Forest keeps the Halflings safe.

(Lúthien likes such beings, free and happy beneath the trees, with their children and their flower crowns. Galadriel does not care, so long as the River-daughter takes the braver ones for her own and she does not have to fight any wars there. There is no room in their lands for those who would betray them, but the Halflings can at least be trusted to remain in their lands. Their lands will also make a good present for her brother to rule, after they have retrieved him from the Halls.)

But those are plans for later. Galadriel raises her hand as she stands from the throne that is twisted from the branches of the trees she rules from, lights from the second Silmaril Lúthien had won from Morgoth reflecting off the trees and causing shadows to fall in patterns. 

Her followers rise with her hand and stand at attention.

“The Valar keep our families from us. Why should we not be free to see them again? Why should those taken from us be kept in the Valar’s lands, playthings for their own amusement?” she begins, the same speech she has given time after time to elves who are reluctant. 

The Nandor in the room all nod, some more visible than others. The Noldor wince, and she wonders how many of them compare her to her uncle, not seeing that she is so much more than he was, how he refused the lessons of the Valar and the Maia in favor of his own. The rest of her family had been fools to think they could ever win by defeating Morgoth alone.

They do not see this, only that she is related to them. She can tolerate this for now, but she will keep her lists, and if they betray her, they will learn.

“Lúthien has convinced Cirdan to lend us his ships. We will take our fight to their shores, to those who abandoned us to death and ruin at the hands of their brother, and we will reclaim our own families,” she says. “Her forces will follow us as they can, and hold our lands against those who would take them from us.”

There are grins from the Nandor, sharp toothy grins fit for battle she has won by her actions to reunite them with their relatives. Many of the Noldor nod along to the speech with the knowledge that their redemption is to be won in battle once more.

The few who do not will see one day.

Behind her the ghosts of the dead she has called from Námo's clutches rise and walk to join those among the Nandor who had refused the call.

Sauron has been useful for one thing, and she plans to take the knowledge won from him and raise an army to reclaim those who have been taken from her.

‘Brothers,’ she thinks, ‘I am coming for you. And then I will track down those who betrayed us and make them pay.’ 

Before her, the living shudder and the dead walk.

Galadriel plans her war and her reunion with her loved ones. 

She will have to introduce her mother to Lúthien, they are cousins after all.


End file.
